Online business extends far beyond writing a blog and there are numerous business types that you might be developing, considering, or already own. Blogging might indeed be your thing and this can be just as viable a business as online retail, affiliate marketing, or dropshipping.
However, even the best online businesses aren’t aware of some of the tools available to them that are designed specifically for getting the most out of an online venture. While you might have a solid social media campaign across Facebook and Twitter, this will only get you so far and can’t give you what you need to go further.
Some of the best and most common tools available for online business include:
- Analytics
- SEO
- Outsourcing
Analytics is second to none when it comes to assessing data that can provide useful insights into yours, and indeed your competitor’s business while SEO is a vastly underused resource yet one that is absolutely necessary for online business, and outsourcing should be considered for all business sizes and isn’t as expensive as you might think.
Analytics
The purpose of data analytics is to analyze information from your website so that you can make informed choices on future developments in order to drive, maintain and increase traffic to your site, further increasing business. Google Analytics is perhaps the most well-known data analytics tool and it can be configured for any website absolutely free.
However, Google’s tool isn’t the only one available. Social media platforms come with their own analytics tools and there are specialized companies that can provide expert analysis for a small fee. BrandTotal is a new platform that has been designed to analyze and give insights into your direct competition’s social media strategy.
SEO
Whether you write a blog, provide a service or run an online retail business, the primary purpose of a website and its associated campaigns is to drive traffic to it. Social media is a very good source of traffic but unless you engage in an active and sound SEO strategy, you will be missing out on the potential that search engines have to offer.
Search Engine Optimization has been around since the birth of the search engine and is the meta-information that is used to tell an engine like Google what your site is about. This is what drives traffic to your site and determines where you rank on a search results page. However, even in 2021, 70% of small businesses don’t use SEO, so you should capitalize on this ASAP.
Outsourcing
You might think that outsourcing is only for large corporations that can afford to buy the services of another company, but the truth is that businesses of all sizes can afford outsourced projects. Most outsourcing companies charge a relatively small fee and usually provide tiered packages that suit any business type.
Such things as managed IT services should be considered for outsourcing since they can provide all of your IT solutions for a small monthly fee. Usually, IT services provide data backup, cybersecurity, cloud access, and software or hardware as a service, keeping the costs as low as possible, since a cyber attack could cost you tens of thousands.
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